1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, and more particularly, to an image forming apparatus which effects a dry processing by using a photosensitive material which has been photographed and to which a dry processing is applicable so as to make hard copies.
Conventionally, in a film developing machine, a photographic film which has been photographed is sequentially dipped into processing solutions comprising a developing solution, a fixing solution, a washing solution and the like which are reserved in respective processing solution tanks so that a latent image which is recorded on a photographic film is made distinct (wet developing). Thereafter, a print processing is effected on a printing paper in a printer which is equipped independently of the film developing machine. Further, after the print processing, a paper developing machine is used so that the printing paper is dipped into processing solutions in respective processing solution tanks, and a developing processing is effected (wet developing). Moreover, a machine in which a printer and a paper developing machine are formed integrally with each other is named a so-called "minilab" (a small business that develops film and makes prints quickly) which is used for shops on a small scale.
In the image forming apparatus which is structured as described above, because the film developing machine and the printer are equipped separately from each other, manual work must be done by an operator in order to pick up photographic film, which has been subjected to a developing processing, from a film developing machine and load the photographic on a printer. Therefore, in order to reduce the amount of the manual work by the operator, a method in which the film developing machine and the printer are formed integrally with each other has been thought of. In this case, because a photographic film and a printing paper must be conveyed in a state in which they intersect orthogonally to each other, there arises a problem that the image forming apparatus must be made large, so that the above-described integration of the film developing machine and the printer has not yet been realized. If the integration has been realized, it does not pay.